Creatine, going to test it out

(Denise) #1

…finally ordered some powder form, probably add to my coffee mixture in the a.m.
I listened to, and read some reviews, mixed as usual so decided on being my own guinea pig once again. Everyone is truly different so best way for me I’ve found.

I settled on the monohydrate type, and I did read many elderly are using the Creatine, not just weight-training etc. It’s said to have some cognitive benefits, plus I do at least keep working my leg muscles, but as I mentioned in my “weight-training” thread, I started a 10 minute dumbell, upper body. I need to get back into it but not too fast.

I have dropped most of my supplements, at least I don’t take them every day. I’ve had some suspicions about needing so many, not in large doses, but 9 vitamins a day just a bit much maybe. Also, I don’t like multi’s as I just feel they are always lacking the dosages I thought were best for me.

Anyway, I want to try the Creatine to see how my body handles it. I know about some side-effects I can expect, like the headaches from possible dehydration, and one gal in a video talked about ravenous hunger.

Hard to believe since my Keto nutrition, 2 meals a day and long fast from 5 pm until 11am brunch, then meat only (mostly red, or salmon) by 4:30 or 5 pm. I have a snack but not because of hunger :roll_eyes:, at about 1 or 1:30pm, nothing in the evenings before bed.

I’m not counting calories, just eating until satiated, works great, an feel so much better doing it this way.

Ok, wrote a darn book, just wanted to start the thread, and went over-board, guess I missed talking about health. Love to hear what other weight-trainers, or anyone that uses Creatine, thinks of it :wink: Thanks much, Denise

PS I’m starting very low, not even the 5g they recommend, more like 3 g or less to start out. Post workout for now.

(KM) #2

Looking forward to hearing how the creatine works for you. I know what you mean about this. I definitely have moments when I question whether I’m just embracing the “pill mentality” without the expensive blessing of the AMA / FDA, which at least vets the content of the pills if not their efficacy. :woozy_face:

(Bob M) #3

People rave about it and there are a lot of studies supporting its use. I tried it and couldn’t determine a benefit. But some benefits, like better mental acuity, would be hard to test without an official way to do so.

#4

It’s literally the most studied supplement on the planet, nobody is going wrong with creatine. The benefits are too great to not take it. If it’s micronized or CreaPure, most of the sides you’ve read about shouldn’t apply, mainly GI issues, and even if it’s not, most of them only happened when people used to do loading phases of it, which does speed up saturation, but not needed either.

(Denise) #5

I feel pretty confident about at least trying it after some of the things I’ve read :wink: Mine is not the one’s you mentioned, I got the less expensive, but yet, NOW has been a good brand for me. If the mono bothers me, I would be willing to try the types you suggested before I give up on it :grin:

I actually started really considering it after I heard Joe Rogan talking about it :slight_smile: So then I started reading more about it, specifically how it’s said to be getting popular with older folks. Bottom line is how my system gets along with it. I am really careful about trying new things and I appreciate your input a lot! Denise

(Denise) #6

I guess, I just rarely go by what they say :wink: denise

#7

NOW’s a good brand, Creapure is still Mono, but a German patented one, being micronized helps the grittiness, but if you put it in something hot that’s not an issue. There’s only one on the market (for now) that’s actually soluble otherwise, but it’s pricey, and of course because I’m a snob I have it, but having a hard time rationalizing it. Only beneift for me is since I take it at it’s clinical dosing I’m just shy of 15g/day, and with the normal ones I’m making a lot of pit stops throughout the day :wink: when I take that much.

(Denise) #8

I did hear about it clumping but yes, I’ll have it in my decaf.

I read that it gets water into our muscles better, and that sounded good. But at the same time, it’s easy to get dehydrated. I drink a good amount of water, but will really watch my intake, plus the salt I add to my jug every refill. I don’t want headaches, and get zero now, normal headaches. I do get migraine once in awhile, that’s different though.

15g sounds like a lot but you’ve probably worked your way up, and found the right dosage. I already mentioned starting very low. I’m 109 lbs, and 5’1" so pretty light weight. My muscles are way stronger than even when I was young, but Creatine is said to have many more benefits, so I am anxious to try it.

So many things are depleted as we age and frankly, I don’t put too much stock in what bloodtests show, not the normal ones I get for real basic vitamins. I am eating mostly red meats now, but just for variety, I throw in some chicken, or something like a pork tenderloin. I do love salmon and find some good stuff at Grocery Outlet, even some Coho if I get real lucky :wink:

(Robin) #9

Hey, @Goldengirl52, I’ve missed you. Thrilled to see you back!

(Denise) #10

Good to see you too Robin! I’m having a lot of insomnia, or maybe call it just broken-up sleep these days so up at 2:00 a.m. Feelin good otherwise though, and having a nap is always an option since I don’t have to work a job any longer :wink:

Gonna look at some other dumbell workouts to follow, get something a little longer like maybe 20 or so minutes. I have 2 sets of weights, 5’s and 10’s. Ttyl, Denise :+1::grin:

(Bob M) #11

That’s what everyone says. Can’t find the podcast right now, but they were saying everyone should take it.

But I did the loading phase and kept taking it (forget how much now though), and I could not find a benefit. Did I not take enough? Was I looking for the wrong things for benefits? I don’t know. And it’s possible I’m getting a high level of creatine through my diet, but I don’t track that.

(Jamie Henry Brown) #12

Creatine isn’t functional, at least for muscle building purposes.

It’ll make your muscles look bigger due to water being pulled into the muscles but it doesn’t do anything performance wise.

Especially since our meat diet has a lot of creatine in it.

(Denise) #13

I just got my Creatine from NOW brand, and it’s the Mono. type. I didn’t realize this was synthetic, and that concerns me. I guess reading that it naturally occurs in the body I “assumed” this was natural stuff. Is all Creatine synthetic?

I’ll check back in when I can, but I hope I get info that will help me decide whether or not I should try this. I just googled, and searched youtube but nothing specific on it being a synthetic form of creatine. I just don’t understand why if it is in fish, red meat, why they have to make a synthetic form. Probably the price would be so high if it was all natural, I could afford it.

Still, I don’t like the idea of synthetics. Maybe someone can put my mind at ease if some synthetic types are aok. Thanks much, Denise

PS I still understand we all seem to have different experience so ultimately, I’d just have to try it. Just would like feedback on the “synthetic” thing.

(B Creighton) #14

Like jamiehenrybrown said it pulls water into tissues, so although it may make you feel thirsty, it is not known for dehydrating you.

One cautionary note though. Creatine supplementation tends to raise the creatinin readings on blood tests, which doctors follow to judge liver health. You just need to realize that creatinin levels will probably read higher while supplementing creatine. 3 gr of creatine is really all you need. Typically the 5 g level is only recommended for a “loading phase” of a week or so.

Yeah, the monohydrate form is synthetic, but so are lots of vitamins, hormones, etc. The other forms are more expensive, and have not been shown to have any added benefit.

The first year I used creatine, I added it to my morning yogurt, and stopped eating potato chips - I lost 18 pounds of fat that year - don’t know if creatine helped that process though.

(Denise) #15

Hi dude,

Thank you for your input. I do feel thirsty, but I’ve really upped my stair-climbing as I can do more of it in less time now. I climb 39 steps, 3 sets (4 reps each), and in between each set I take a normal, normal 2 minute walk down a long hallway and back. Hope that makes sense. It’s in my apartment building, and I love doing this as it’s Winter here and I don’t have to drive to a gym.

So that is wearing me out, sleeping good, but felt I needed to try the creatine to help with muscle, and also so many other benefits for folks my age I’ve read about. I also do an upper body with dumbells, but not as often lately.

I appreciate the heads-up on the Creatinin levels. I take it that’s not a typo, I just don’t remember if that test is included in my blood-work I get about twice a year. I will make sure though when I get my next one.

On my bottle it says 1.5 tsps 3 times a day and I thought no way! Read further and it says 1.5 tsp, but that’s 5 grams, and I did read online earlier before I bought it, about the loading thing. The bottle also says if I plan to take it 28 days, or each day. So I just started with 1/4 tsp :+1: That is supposedly a third of the 5 grams. I feel comfy with that for now which would be under your 3 g suggestion. So I am glad to see that.

I don’t like the idea of synthetic anything, just sounds, well, un-natural, lol, but I’ll do this for a month or so, took another 1/4 tsp yesterday “after” my work-out. I was drained and wanted to see if it helped give me get enough energy to do the rest of the day-tasks. My body was real tired, but I’d been doing the stairs 3 or 4 days in a row, my bad I’m thinking.

I don’t remember seeing Jamie’s post so I’ll go back and look at it, ty again, so appreciate the help :slight_smile:

(Denise) #16

Oh I did see this, ok Jamie, I didn’t comment, so I’ll thank you now for your input. I did read about the water gains in the muscle. I didn’t read a lot further because I feel the water getting into the muscle seems good, like more absorption where it’s needed??

So the water getting into the muscle, doesn’t help build the muscle. That’s kind of confusing, but I do understand about the water, I guess making the appearance of muscle different. It seems though my body must need the water to “feed” the muscle or help somewhere in the building process. But I probably don’t need to get that deep into all that, maybe?

I’m not sure I get enough meat, fats, to provide all my nutrients. I’m 72 next month as I mentioned, and I do believe our bodies get depleted as we age. With that said, I don’t add any vitamins right now, quit about a week ago as I do eat very good, especially my meats. My basic blood-work is fine, been monitoring that for last 8.5 years or more. But I don’t think they are that thorough, so I look to studies, and people like Diet Doctor, Dr. Berry, Ben Bickman, and a few other faves.

Then I come here of course :wink:

(Edith) #17

I don’t know if there is non synthetic creatine, but I do know that vegans tend to be deficient and that since the synthetic version doesn’t come from animals they can use it.

(Denise) #18

Hi Edith, I’ve tried to find info that would help me get the “best” info I can on how much actual nutrients I get in my foods. I kind of gave up on it because I’d have to know about so many things that go into our food production. Soil, and all that is kind of overwhelming.

I think I eat good, but some of what I read makes me think I can’t get it all from food. As I mentioned, I stopped my vitamins (B’s, A, C, zinc, K) basic ones but was looking at them this a.m. thinking whether I should keep taking them or not. It’s hard to know if they’re helping, or am I spending money I could spend on more red meat :wink: lol!

Kind of a dilemma a suppose for a lot of people :thinking: Someone said the real deal is a lot of money which I know I couldn’t afford. But they also said there was no significant differences found between real and synthetic. I’d like to find more reliable sources which I learned about creatine from Joe Rogan, and sort of assumed he would know.

I should never assume right :crazy_face: Thank you for you input btw, it’s nice to hear from you, and others on here :wink:

(B Creighton) #19

That’s the way it is pronounced, but like creatine, it is spelled with an “e” on the end ie creatinine